‘King of the Nerds’ exclusive: Todd ‘The Bod’ Landree on conflicts, highlights, and comics
We have yet to see an episode of “King of the Nerds” without Todd “The Bod” Landree, but we are not exaggerating here at all when we say that we miss the man already. He was a huge personality, was the man behind many great moments (Clockwork King!), and he has a true competitive spirit. Clearly, he did not want to leave the competition without a fight, but leave he did after Friday night’s new episode after going up against against Kaitlin.
We were looking forward to getting Todd’s take on the whole season, even if we wish it was happening a little bit later in the season. We chatted with him recently via email, and he gave us some thoughts on the conflicts shown in this past episode, what was his defining moment of the season, and also a little bit about the comic book – TV craze happening right now.
CarterMatt – First of all, congratulations on the glorious creation of the Clockwork King. Have you considered taking this character on the road to conventions?
Todd the Bod – Thank you very much! Up until this very moment I never even thought about it, but I bet people would really enjoy seeing the Clockwork King lurking at conventions and popping out of nowhere with his maniacal laugh and twirling his eye liner mustache sinisterly! I would like to update the costume, but I feel like his charm is that he is wearing shorts and a trench coat with a monocle that does not even work as a monocle. So ultimately the answer is, if the people want it, I can definitely accommodate.
How are you feeling about your elimination from the show watching it back? Do you feel like the entire conflict was presented accurately?
What a difficult question. I had to be eliminated. That is the best way to answer that. Look, in Season 2 Zack went crazy, and his dark cloud stayed at Nerdvana and fueled him. I could have easily turned back into a fun loving guy but the simmering emotions would have been there. The conflict was represented……mostly accurate. They did not, and could not due to time constraints, showing me wandering Nerdvana muttering to myself about how angry I was, or the entire 20 minute tirade I directed at Lily.
Look, I was wrong. I should not have lashed out. I was a wounded, and cornered animal. I felt betrayed. I felt unloved. I felt alone and in that moment it became a fight or flight moment. That was not a 100% emotional response. I planned on lashing out. I thought that if I yelled loud enough that things would shake out differently than what they did. I really wanted to frazzle everyone so badly that alliances crumpled and voting as a team did not matter. And it almost worked.
When you were on the show, you seemingly did not have the insight about the Secret Six alliance. Did you suspect anything? Also, did your perception of getting sent into the Nerd-Off change once you learned about the alliance?
No. I had no idea that there was a Secret Six. I was only considered that my House was in order, and I knew that Ben and Lily were in cahoots. There was a lot of crushing going on. (That ultimately led me down the dark path I was going as well). Did I know that there was a cross team alliance? No. I was only hurt by the fact that Raychelle was in the alliance because she was my closest friend and confidant. They do not show how close we were, but I had her back the whole time. They also do not show that I told Raychelle that I did that outburst so she could distance herself from me to remain safe. Of course, hindsight is 20/20 and she was safe anyway because of this alliance and my grand gesture just made me look like a grand ass.
Just how crazy was the pressure in that Nerd-Off? What was going through your head during that?
Looking back, this was terrible. The pressure was so intense if I was a lesser man I would have buckled and just left. I did not sleep the night before. I did feel terrible about yelling. The sun was beating on my face. I barely ate anything. I thought up until an hour beforehand that it was going to be a comic book challenge, not a single person was rooting for me. It was literally the entire world against me. I felt less than nothing. I still felt hurt. I still felt betrayed. But, I am a master shield wielder. You would never be able to tell how bad my mind was racing. I was still having fun with the Sumo, and I was still cracking jokes to break the tension. I was, for all intents and purposes, me again. I just didn’t feel like it on the inside.
What would you say was the defining Todd the Bod moment this season?
Oh jeeze. The defining Todd the Bod moment was probably strutting out in Nerdvana in a Lakers Cheerleader outfit. Look, I am by no means a small guy, and to show the world I had confidence in myself and take some of the pressure off of my team was great. You can be big and still be sexy. On the flip side, that confidence showed again during my Nerd Off. Even though I didn’t get a single point, the challenge producers paused the game TWICE because I was so confident in my answers they second guessed themselves. When you steal something, walk out like you own it, and I was trying to steal that Nerd Off right from under Kaitlin’s nose.
Also, what’s the origin of the Todd the Bod nickname? After this season I have been rendered incapable of referring to you as just “Todd.” It’s pretty much “Todd the Bod” forever now.
It was a sunny spring afternoon in Warren, Pennsylvania when I was walking up Jackson Avenue as a husky 7th grade boy, with my best friends Corey and Taiji. I was really into wrestling, and wanted a nickname to match some of the greats. We were chatting about the great wrestlers of their day, Jake “the Snake”, Andre the Giant, Ravishing Rick Rude, and Jesse “the Body” Ventura. It clicked. Not Toddy the Body, that was too juvenile. I needed something sexier. And in that moment, Todd the Bod was born. No one just called me Todd for the rest of my school years, as I truly was Todd the Bod. I branded myself.
I asked this question to Jacob as well, since you guys are two of the comic-book gurus this season. TV is really going crazy with superhero adaptations right now, so is there one under-represented character you’d like to see star in their own show?
What a wonderful question! While “The Question” might be the more mainstream answer, I think that HBO could do a great adaptation of Midnighter. I am not sure if you know about Midnighter and his husband, Apollo, but think of them as Batman and Superman but gay lovers. Midnighter is such a fascinating character because he will kill if he deems necessary, he is a master strategist, and the only person he seems to show love and affection for is his husband Apollo. Having a show that has an absolute badass gay superhero may change some peoples views on homosexuality, and that you can be an absolute badass and still love another man.
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